The motivation to visit The Netherlands was to see the tulips. It did occur to me that this motivation was a bit strange since in Washington we have beautiful tulip fields in the Skagit Valley. But come on . . . the Skagit Valley is *not* Holland. And so the wheels were set in motion.
Do you see what I see? A quilt!The famous Keukenhof Garden is located only 30 minutes south of Amsterdam. It not only had fields and fields of tulips but, most notably, a large garden.
It was gorgeous. Trees, ponds, paths, swans and even a white peacock! The girls happily skipped up and down the paths, stopping to smell each bed of hyacinths. Eva was very interested in the names of the tulips with her favorite being Pink Diamond. Each girl had their picture taken in front of a tulip bed of their favorite color. There were sculptures to admire set between the flower beds. A real wooden windmill that we were able to climb up. A group of singers in traditional Dutch clothing. Waffle stands. Souvenir stands. Bulb stands. The most exciting, to Eva anyway, was the petting farm!!
Audrey let out a blood curdling scream and jumped into Bryce's arms, clinging for dear life. But Eva was enthralled by the petting farm. Actually I was too. It was a fenced area with all kinds of farm animals just wandering around together. A calf, a llama, pony, goats, ducks, sheep, chickens of all kinds. These were my favorite. Lambs, little pigs and rabbits. The rabbits were Eva's favorite. She was so tender with them. There were many one last pets.
It was such an enjoyable outing. Perfect for adults and kids. We will definitely be back next spring.
6 comments:
fun! makes me miss our b'ham days!! xoxo
This is now a high priority on our European travel list! Beautiful!
ohhhh I'm soooo jealous! I went last year at the end of tulip season, while there was still beautiful flowers there was nothing like that! That was also cold and rainy so that didn't help either. I want to go back when there are fields and fields of tulips
Drooling... seriously drooling!! OH MY!! there is NOTHING like that in Australia
Wow. Such beautiful flowers. We probably won't make it up to the Amsterdam area this year to see the garden, but next year I plan to. :)
Thank you for your comment on my blog.
Katy,
Can you send me an e-mail...we are in the process of planning an anniversary escape to Belgium in April and considering a side trip to these gardens. Did you spend the night in Amsterdam/ Haarlem? Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated! Also, how far away is Luxembourg? Is it worth a day trip from Belgium? Lots to research. Still in the States right now but will send you a proper e-mail, just wanted to comment on this while I was doing some preliminary research. Hope you guys are doing well and staying warm!
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